Alumnus Preet Bharara ’93 Nominated as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District

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Preet Bharara '93 Nominated as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District

Media contact: Nancy Goldfarb 212-854-1584 [email protected]
Public Affairs Office 212-854-2650 [email protected]

New York, May 15, 2009 — President Barack Obama today nominated Preet Bharara ’93 for United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, based in Manhattan. This position is widely regarded as among the most important and prestigious federal prosecutor’s role outside Washington, D.C., with a strong concentration on white-collar crime, securities fraud, public corruption, and terrorism.

Bharara, 40, currently serves as Chief Counsel to Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), and from 2005 to 2009 served as Staff Director of the Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts. He oversaw the congressional investigation into the Bush administration’s firing of eight U.S. attorneys in 2006, which led to the resignation of U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

From 2000 to 2005, Bharara served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Manhattan under Mary Jo White ’74, focusing on organized crime and narcotics cases, among others. He began his law career as a litigation associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in 1993, after receiving a J.D. degree from Columbia Law School. In 1996, he joined the firm of Swidler Berlin Shereff Friedman, handling white-collar and other defense work.

Past U.S. Attorneys from the Southern District include Robert M. Morgenthau, Rudolph W. Giuliani, Robert B. Fiske Jr., Henry L. Stimson, Elihu Root, and James B. Comey, who later became Deputy Attorney General under George W. Bush.

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